U.S. House Passes Bill to Reopen Government, Increase Debt Limit

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By REUTERS.

The U.S. House of Representatives late on Wednesday passed legislation to avoid a damaging default on government debt and to reopen federal agencies shuttered when funding ran out on October 1.

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Photo Credit: Doug Mills/The New York TimesCongress Passes Debt Deal

By JONATHAN WEISMAN and ASHLEY PARKER.

Congressional Republicans conceded defeat on Wednesday in their bitter budget fight with President Obama over the new health care law, agreeing to end a disruptive 16-day government shutdown and extend federal borrowing power to avert a financial default with potentially worldwide economic repercussions.

With the Treasury Department warning that it could run out of money to pay national obligations within a day, the Senate voted overwhelmingly Wednesday evening, 81 to 18, to approve a proposal hammered out by the chamber’s Republican and Democratic leaders after the House on Tuesday was unable to move forward with any resolution. The House followed suit a few hours later, voting 285 to 144, to approve the Senate plan, which would finance the government through Jan. 15 and raise the debt limit through Feb. 7.

Shortly after the Senate vote, President Obama said he would sign the measure as he soon as he received it. While he praised Congress, he said he hoped the damaging standoff would not be repeated.

“We’ve got to get out of the habit of governing by crisis,” said Mr. Obama, who urged Congress to move forward, not only with new budget negotiations, but immigration changes and a farm bill as well. “We could get all these things done even this year, if everybody comes together in a spirit of, how are we going to move this country forward and put the last three weeks behind us.”

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Rush Limbaugh: GOP ‘So Irrelevant’ (+video)

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Photo Credit: WND Rush Limbaugh on Wednesday blasted the Republican Party as “irrelevant” and responsible for “creating one of the greatest political disasters” he’s ever seen.

“I was trying to think earlier today, if ever in my life I could remember any major political party being so irrelevant,” the conservative radio host said on his show, according to a transcript. “I have never seen it. I have never seen a major political party simply occupy placeholders, as the Republican Party is doing.”

Limbaugh slammed the Republican Party for consistently failing to offer any “serious opposition” to the Democratic Party or President Barack Obama. And now the party has made an “inexplicable political cave-in” with the agreement to reopen the government and lift the debt ceiling, he said.

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DoD Refuses to Say If It Would Stop Priest from Giving Last Rites to Dying Serviceman—‘We Are Currently Litigating’ Matter

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Photo Credit: AP/Carolyn KasterLt. Col. Todd Breasseale, a spokesman in the Office of Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel, is refusing to say whether the Department of Defense would attempt to stop a civilian Catholic priest, who had been a contract chaplain for the military, from administering the last rites to a serviceman on a U.S. military base.

“I feel no particular compulsion to answer outlandish, hypothetical questions in a yes/no fashion nor does the Department, generally, answer hypotheticals at all,” Breasseale said in an email.

“Further, it is a matter of long standing Department policy to not address matters that are currently under active litigation,” Breasseale continued.

Prior to Breasseale sending this email declining to say whether DOD would try to stop a priest from administering the last rites to a serviceman, a spokesman for the National Security Staff at the White House, had responded to the question, by saying: “We’d refer you to our colleagues at DOD for comment.”

“I’m sorry that the NSS sent you to us, but I suspect they might not have known that we are currently litigating,” said Breasseale. “The Department of Justice handles the litigation for all agencies of the Executive, so my recommendation is that you contact them.”

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Goldberg: ‘It’s Never Wise to Underestimate the Degree to Which Obama Does Things for Spite’ (+video)

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Photo Credit: YouTube The National Review’s Jonah Goldberg said it is never wise to underestimate the degree to which President Obama launches partisan attacks out of spite for the GOP Wesdnesday on Special Report.

Goldberg said he believes often President Obama cannot “help himself”…

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Christie: If My Child Was Gay, I’d Advise Against Marriage (+video)

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Photo Credit: YouTube Gov. Chris Christie says if any of his four children came out as gay, he would hug them, tell them that he loved them — and then tell them he didn’t believe they should be allowed to marry their partner.

The Republican governor of New Jersey was speaking in the second and final gubernatorial debate against his Democratic challenger Barbara Buono on Tuesday night.

When asked what would happen if one of his two sons and two daughters announced they were gay, he replied, “I’d grab them and hug them and tell them I love them.” He said he would then tell them: “Dad believes marriage is between one man and one woman.”

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Obama in Wonderland

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Photo Credit: bigfurhat for American Thinker Many people criticize President Obama for spending too much time campaigning, traveling or on the golf course. They are wrong. He spends too much time in a far more removed and unique place: Wonderland. Indeed, he seemingly lives in Wonderland.

The problem is that the rest of us live in the real world.

Over the last five years it has becoming increasingly clear that Barack Obama and his crew of handpicked officials see America and the rest of the world in ways at variance with reality.

We have heard President Obama say that ObamaCare would not add a dime to the deficit, people would be able to keep their doctors, premiums would not rise — and in many cases would be cheaper than a cell phone bill — all demonstrably false; the rollout of ObamaCare is not going great with some minor “glitches” due to the high demand, it is a train wreck and the demand, such as it is, has been pathetic.

Does he read newspapers or watch the news?

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150 Straight Days: Treasury Says Debt Stood Still at $16,699,396,000,000

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Photo Credit: AP/Susan WalshEvery business day since May 17, the U.S. Treasury has published a daily statement claiming that the federal debt subject to the limit set by Congress closed the day at $16,699,396,000,000—about $25 million below the legal limit.

Monday, the Columbus Day holiday, according to the Daily Treasury Statement released today, marked the 150th straight day that the Treasury has said the debt subject to limit was stuck at $16,699,396,000,000.

On May 17, the first day the debt closed the day at $16,699,396,000,000, Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew sent a letter to House Speaker John Boehner stating that since the Treasury was about to hit the debt limit he would begin to use “extraordinary measures” to prevent it from doing so. These included, among other things, suspending investment of the Civil Service Retirement and Disability Fund in U.S. Treasury securities, and redeeming securities already held by this fund.

“In total, the extraordinary measures currently available free up approximately $260 billion in headroom under the limit,” Lew wrote then.

But in that letter, Lew described the unpredictability of the Treasury’s flow of funds to explain why he could not predict exactly when the extraordinary measures would be exhausted.

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Complaint: UAW, VW Coerced Workers Into Accepting Unionization

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Photo Credit: APTennessee autoworkers have filed a second set of complaints alleging that Volkswagen’s corporate headquarters pressured employees to join the United Auto Workers Union.

Four autoworkers filed a complaint to the National Labor Relations Board alleging that members of the German-based company’s board of directors threatened to end plant expansion in the right-to-work state if employees did not join a European-style works council.

The support that corporate leaders are lending to the UAW amounts to coercion, according to the complaint filed by the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation (NRTW).

“Bernd Osterloh, vice-chairman of VW and head of VW’s global works council, who makes production decisions for VW, said publicly that employees in Chattanooga must form a works council and bring in the UAW as their agent if their plant is going to be given the opportunity to produce additional products for VW,” the complaint states.

“Volkswagen AG through their officers, directors, and/or agents are thus interfering with Chattanooga facility employees’ rights to choose whether or not to engage in self-organization to form, join, or assist labor organizations.”

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Bonnie Doon Ice Cream Blames Obamacare for Shutdown (+video)

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Photo Credit: Fox 28An iconic Michiana company is closing.

Tuesday, FOX28 talked with owners of the Bonnie Doon plant and downtown Mishawaka location. They tell us there are many reasons for the shutdown such as the declining economy and the rise in production costs. But the number one factor? The anticipated cost of the Affordable Care Act.

Adam Carroll is owner of the Lincolnway Bonnie Doon. Even though the Bonnie Doon Plant and downtown location are closing, he says he’s not going anywhere. “I’ve been with the company for 21 years, it was my first job and I started working for them when I was 14.”

He says the closing plant means he has to find a new ice cream supplier. “With the Obamacare it just will affect the businesses too much so that was their main reason for shutting down the ice cream plant at this time.”

FOX28 talked with the CFO who confirmed the anticipation of the Affordable Care Act played a large part in the shut down, something Kyle Hannon, Elkhart Chamber of Commerce President says many small businesses are wrestling with. “Our businesses have been concerned, kind of wondering ‘how much is this going to cost? How is it going to impact us?”

Fox 28: South Bend, Elkhart IN News, Weather, Sports

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Feds $82,800 Study On How to Use Twitter For ‘Depression Surveillance’

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Photo Credit: APThe federal government is studying how to use Twitter for surveillance on depressed people.

The University of California, San Diego (UCSD) began a study financed by the National Institutes of Health last month that will provide “population level depression monitoring” through the social media site.

The project, “Utilizing Social Media as a Resource for Mental Health Surveillance,” is costing taxpayers $82,800.

While Twitter has been used by government agencies, such as the Secret Service and Department of Homeland Security, for national security related monitoring, the project suggests the social network can be used for public health surveillance as well.

“Major depressive disorder is one of the most common debilitating illnesses in the United States, with a lifetime prevalence of 16.2 [percent],” the project grant states. “Currently, nationwide mental health surveillance takes the form of large-scale telephone- based surveys.”

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